Weißenfels and Leipzig

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This morning I visited another town where my father was stationed. Weißenfels is in a good-sized community with 30,000 inhabitants these days. When my father was here, he didn't really comment in his letters about the town or the area around it. I am not at all sure where he was billeted or where he may have spent time. I tried to go to places that he might have seen - the main square (see picture), the central tall-spired church (see picture) - and I walked around for a couple of hours. Weißenfels is a pretty place with a placid river running through it (see picture). Most of the buildings seem newer to me, but perhaps they have been renovated in recent years. I am deep into what used to be East Germany now and I suspect that many places here have been spruced up since reunification in 1990. I ate lunch in a German restaurant on the main square and ordered the special from the chalkboard without knowing what it was. It turned out to be spare ribs with sauerkraut and potatoes (see picture). It was very good, and not very expensive. Next I drove to Leipzig, about an hour away. I had time to explore a little in the afternoon and I went to the Stasi museum where there are displays about the workings of the East German secret police. It as not as interesting as I expected, but I did enjoy seeing the almost comical disguises they used (see picture). I also stopped in at Thomaskirche, the home church for Johann Sebastian Bach. His grave is inside the church and his statue is outside (see picture).

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